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The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science will support Rubin Observatory in its operations phase to carry out the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. They will also provide support for scientific research with the data. During operations, NSF funding is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF, and DOE funding is managed by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), under contract by DOE. Rubin Observatory is operated by NSF NOIRLab and SLAC.

NSF is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science. NSF supports basic research and people to create knowledge that transforms the future.

The DOE Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

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  1. Explore
  2. How Rubin Works
  3. Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST)

Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST)

Rubin Observatory began the 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) in June 2026, and is now taking hundreds of images of the Southern Hemisphere sky every night. The data from these images is being used by astronomers around the world to make countless discoveries, but Rubin Observatory was specifically designed to advance four science areas:

  • Understanding the nature of dark matter and dark energy
  • Creating an inventory of the Solar System
  • Mapping the Milky Way
  • Exploring the changing sky
‌
How much sky can Rubin observe in a single week? This visualization shows a representative week of Rubin Observatory observations for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. Observations are added in the order taken, and displayed in the filter used for each exposure (u, g, r, i, z, and y). The day counter advances as the survey progresses, revealing how Rubin rapidly builds a multicolor map of the Universe. Credit: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA

Rubin Observatory will produce approximately 10 terabytes of data every night during the ten-year survey. By the end of the survey, the resulting data set will be enormous — about 30 petabytes! Most of the astronomers who make discoveries using this data will never have seen the telescope in person. Instead, they will access the data using an online portal called the Rubin Science Platform. They won’t need expensive equipment or computing power, just an internet browser. This is the first time this much astronomical data will be available to so many people, and there’s no telling what discoveries scientists will make using Rubin Observatory.

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NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory will revisit each area of sky about 800 times during the 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time. This animation shows how combining repeated observations builds a deeper, clearer picture, revealing objects too faint to see in a single exposure. Credit: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA
What is survey astronomy? Learn more here!

Learn more about how Rubin will image the sky

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